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Category: Women’s History

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Aretha Franklin and “Respect”

Posted by: John Sayers

The “Queen of Soul,” singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin died today at age 76. Her 1967 recording of the song “Respect” was among the first inductees into the Library’s National Recording Registry when it was established in 2002. This guest post by Cary O’Dell in the Library’s Motion Picture, Broadcast and Recorded Sound division first appeared as …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The John W. Kluge Prize: Q&A with Drew Gilpin Faust

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Today, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced that Drew Gilpin Faust—historian, Harvard University president and author of the Bancroft Prize-winning book “This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War”—will receive the John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity. The $1 million Kluge Prize, bestowed through the generosity of the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

World War I: The Women’s Land Army

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by Ryan Reft, a historian in the Manuscript Division, in honor of Women’s History Month. “The man with the hoe is gone. Six hundred thousand of him left the fields of America last year,” observed the Los Angeles Times in April 1918. Hundreds of thousands more would follow as a …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Rare Book of the Month: A Revolutionary Woman and the Declaration of Independence

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

This is a guest post by digital library specialist Elizabeth Gettins. Mary Katherine Goddard (1738–1816) lived during remarkable times in early American history, and she did not sit idly by observing events. Instead, this brave and industrious woman actively took part in helping to found a new republic through use of her printing press. She …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

New Online: Rare Photo of Harriet Tubman Preserved for Future Generations

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

This post draws on the article “Building Black History: A New View of Tubman,” published in the January–February issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine. The issue is available in its entirety online. A remarkable photo album brought two major institutions together to restore and preserve an important piece of American history. Today, the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Women’s History Month: “Hidden Figures of Women’s History”

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

To celebrate the start of Women’s History Month, we’re pleased to share an excerpt from “Hidden Figures of Women’s History,” the March–April issue of LCM, the Library of Congress Magazine, available in its entirety online. The except features a vignette about Lois Weber, an early 20th-century filmmaker, by Mike Mashon, head of the Library’s Moving …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

“Drawn to Purpose” Exhibition: What Viewers Are Saying

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, curator of popular and applied graphic arts in the Prints and Photographs Division. The post was first published on the division’s blog, “Picture This.” It is about “Drawn to Purpose: American Women Illustrators and Cartoonists,” an exhibition on display at the Library of Congress for …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Inquiring Minds: Tracking the Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame

Posted by: Wendi Maloney

Louise Arner Boyd was born in 1887 to wealth. Her father was a mining magnate who made millions in California’s Gold Rush; her mother came from one of New York’s distinguished families. Louise grew up in San Rafael, California, and San Francisco immersed in the activities of her milieu: horseback riding, hunting, socializing, charitable endeavors. …